Well, it has been a very busy fall for me, and it has not helped that my health has been an issue lately. That said, 2011 was in many ways much better than 2010! Now, this is not my end-of-year post, but I wanted to take a few minutes to check in and talk about some things I'm considering doing differently going forward.
-I have decided to close my Sense of Fashion shop. It's a really nice site, and the people on staff there are some of the nicest I have worked with in my online selling career; however, after nearly a year there with nary a sale, I've concluded that it is not the right venue for me. I have moved the items I had for sale there back to my Artfire studio. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about SoF--it just wasn't a fit.
-I am removing a few pieces (very few--less than ten) from my inventory. They will be discounted and placed on my household selling site ("yard sale,") where I hope they will find new homes. These pieces are not sub-par, so much as just not a fit with where I am going. I feel that removing these from my inventory will help to streamline the aesthetic that I am starting to see emerge in my work, and that will create a more cohesive visual message as to what JLP is all about--something I still can't put into words, but can only communicate through color and form. They will stay up in the "yard sale" shop for a while, and if they still don't move, I'll simply pass them on. I feel Ok with this. It is part of learning who we are as artists, and these are not high-end pieces.
-I will be looking at different geographic locations for shows next year. This year was not a good one for shows. I realize the economy is partly to blame, but I also think I'm not getting my stuff in front of the right people. If next year, with new locations, proves to be equally fruitless, I may have to stop doing shows, due to my health issues. I do not generally have helpers when I do shows, so it is very physically taxing for me. If I find locations that work well, I will focus on them, however.
That's all I've got for right now. I'm trying to work out my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales plan, and I have a couple of ideas for this blog--to get posting more regularly--but not a lot is going on in the studio right now. I'm getting nibbles about photo shoots, so we will see how all of that pans out. I am hoping to take some serious down time in either December or January. While I'm going on Vacation in two weeks, I intend to leave my shops open, and I will probably take some projects to work on; however, I am in need of a genuine, do-nothing break. The dead of Winter seems to be a good time for that.
Until next time, be well!
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